A City Without Art?

A City without Art? No Net Loss Plus! Award-Winning Report

A City Without Art? No Net Loss, Plus! presents the findings of a comprehensive survey conducted by the Eastside Arts Society in 2019 to inventory artist production spaces in the city’s industrial areas. Captured through the EAS’s database, interviews, online artist surveys, discussions with building owners, and site-specific research, results reflect both existing as well as historical data and identify land use trends.

Vancouver’s Eastside has one of the highest densities of artists in Canada which contributes to a thriving neighbourhood and local, creative economy. In 2019, the Eastside Arts Society (formerly the Eastside Culture Crawl Society) completed a comprehensive study that documented 400,000 ft2 – almost 4.5 football fields – of visual art studio space that has been lost over the past 10 years. The significant amount of artist studio spaces lost on the Eastside are due to rising land values, land speculation and increasing property taxes which has meant rising rents, redevelopment and the loss of cultural production spaces.

400,000 sq ft lost – almost 4.5 football fields of visual arts space in 10 years

These findings, along with a set of strategies to protect, preserve and enhance arts and culture spaces, were published in the award-winning report, “A City Without Art? No Net Loss, Plus!”, which provides the background information for why the EAS is developing an Eastside Arts District.

Special thanks to our sponsors who supported and guided us throughout the project:

Stantec, Vancouver Economic Commission, Strathcona BIA, the Arts Factory, Vancity and the City of Vancouver, Licker Geospatial, and our EAS Spaces Committee members.